a runner's transition to hiking & backpacking

REI

My first week in Virginia featured little-to-nothing hiking related until my daughter suggested a trip to the Richmond area to shop her favorite HomeGoods store. Well, that would be a five-star yawner for me, except for the fact that HomeGoods shares a parking lot with the Glen Allen location of REI. Where I lived in Maine, the nearest REI was a less-than-leisurely 3.5 hour (traffic permitting, of course) sojourn to (nearby?) Reading, Massachusetts. Given that I had never been in a physical location, and that I had a $9.58 dividend burning a hole in my account pocket, I was thrilled with the invite.

I was hoping against hope that they might have a Granite Gear Crown 2 in stock so I could set some eyes on one. It was a longshot, for sure; even Granite Gear has been out of them for weeks. And my now-local REI didn’t disappoint. Nary a Crown 2 to be seen anywhere.

Still, they had a pretty solid array of packs, about half of which are represented in this photo:

I was able to strap on the 48L version of my trusty Kestrel 28, and give consideration to a few others. But by the end of my hour-long trip through the backpacker’s candy store, all I walked away with was some GU hydration tablets which, after my staggeringly huge $9.58 dividend, set me back a grand total of $3.75.

Still, it was great to spend some time in an actual REI store rather than burning through page after page on their website. And I enjoyed the experience of proudly whipping out my membership card when asked if I had one…

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At the end of the month I’ll be moving to Virginia. For a handful of reasons that won’t be spelled out here, I’ll be taking up temporary residence for a few weeks in a family member’s empty apartment. Ever the minimalist, I’ve decided to use my sleeping bag as my bed. Which means that I need to (finally!) order the sleeping pad I’ve been eyeing since March as a buffer between me and the floor.

The only question now is, do I set up the inner portion of my tent to get used to the confining nature of a one person shelter? I mean, I’ve pitched it indoors before, albeit temporarily:

Of course, I’d much rather see it in a more natural habitat:

But I’m not sure the property management company at the apartment complex would be too thrilled about having a tent pitched on the lawn next to the building that houses the fitness room and movie theater.

They do have a lazy river that runs into the swimming pool. That would probably be a better spot…

It was tough to get a taut pitch in the living room, of course. And I couldn’t add the rainfly to the photo, as it needs to be staked down, and I was pretty sure my landlord wouldn’t approve of holes in his concrete floor. But there it is. And I can’t wait to get out in the woods north (or south…undecided as of this moment) of Monson on the AT for an overnight.

And in keeping with a theme that has overwhelmed this blog, it was another amazingly inexpensive purchase. I received two REI gift cards totaling $50 for my birthday in May, and after much research and hand-wringing, I decided on the Passage 1 for my first tent. But I was looking for a cheaper-than-a-yard-sale bargain in keeping with the rest of my gear purchases. So I decided to wait for the ubiquitous “Take X% off any REI-branded Product!” coupon-carrying email to land in my inbox. I had seen one earlier in the year, and doing my version of financially-strapped-hiker math figured I could land this $139 shelter for an amazing price if I was patient.

Well, my patience paid off. At the end of last week, the requisite email arrived with a 25% off discount code attached. In conjunction with my untouched gift cards, I walked away with this great starter tent for $54 and some change. Awesome!

Sure, I don’t need a tent to hike the three miles from the Monson trailhead to the Leeman Brook Lean-to and spend the night on the AT. My sleeping bag and a bug bivy would do the trick for that. But who wants to spend sleepytime flicking aggressive shelter mice off their person as part of their first AT overnight?